Belgian coalition talks continue, King assigns new mediator

Brussels, Aug 24 (IANS) Belgium’s King Philippe has appointed Maxime Prevot, leader of the centrist Les Engages party, to mediate the ongoing federal government formation talks after previous negotiations collapsed.”This mission aims to reconcile differing perspectives among coalition partners and resume negotiations as soon as possible,” the Palace said in a statement on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.Prevot is expected to report back to the King on September 2.The move follows the resignation of Bart De Wever, leader of the Flemish nationalist N-VA party, who resigned Thursday as the chief negotiator for Belgium’s federal government formation.De Wever proposed a capital gains tax aimed at raising 500 million euros (some $555 million) annually, but it was strongly opposed by the French-speaking Reformist Movement (MR), which argued it would harm investment and undermine Belgium’s economic competitiveness.Belgium holds the world record for the longest government formation period, having gone 541 days without one between 2010 and 2011.–IANSint/rs/as